Nordwind looked at Galahad who sat down a few metres away from his table,Galahads face showing a sincere apologetic expression,he could not bare to look Nordwind directly in the eye,Nordwinds eyes squinted his mouth letting out a sigh," This was all to be expected,such an outcome that is,your household should of informed you of the prejudice that still exists from long ago",Nordwind cupped his hand and coughed vigorously laying his back down the chair that seemed to carress his back as he sat in a leisurely position, revealing a rather plump stomach,"Yes,I was prepared physically,and mentally for this".
Galahad replied,Nordwind answered in an old voice that seemed to have walked through the tests of time ," so am I correct in assuming that your family will continue on trying to incurr the favor of the masses, in my personal opinion such wounds take time and may only heal after a century of good deeds or so its best to wait",Galahads hands clenched," wait! until we are made irrelevant!! ,I refuse such a fate!,why should we be the only ones demonised in the matter!",Galahad spoke passionately in controled but vigorous tone his voice cords emitting a strained low pitch screach.
"The issues in question from the falloff of the war, are not black and white nor grey but a very complex ball of yarn that must be untangled,in this case their are no winners nor losers, for evil was committed by both sides,but as I see it ,it was innevitable for your family to take most of the blame,it antagonized the royal line,and your own supporters in saving your lives,and profiting from the suffering of others,you forfeted your prestige".
"I'M aware" ,Galahad said somberly," nor do I fain ignorance,or righteousness, but I wish that in my life time,our great households prestige, will be renewed","And Im going to make it happen, even if my life is given for it ", Galahad said while clenching his fists,his arm in an upward motion, "such raw ambition",Nordwind said," I myself once had such ambition, but now only few things cause my blood to boil".
Nordwind stood up going towards Galahad,massaging Galahads left shoulder as he prepared his pipe with one hand ," You see ,I can understand if you have resentment towards the crown, and infact I can respect that,corruption has spread these days"," And I hope you choose the right side, when the time comes, you dont know how valuable the voice and arms of a single faction is ,worth in a fight for a beneficial change".
"Well anyway I see you've made friends, and thats a good start towards your goal,keep away from any unwanted attention, next time okay, your dismissed",a split second later Nordwind casual placed a tobacco pipe in his mouth,taking a puff then breathing outward, as his back relaxed on the chair behind him,before Galahad could turn the door knob,Nordwind spoke out giving advice,"Galahad do remember,curiosity killed the ninetailed fox",after that Galahad smiled, before leaving the room.
The next day,within the great palace,was a grand open space,surrounded by pillars, and a stair case leading to a higher floor,that allowed others to observe the open space from above,and a closed cieling,The space had no tessellation,but dirt,and sand this was the area the two boys would fight in.
Aster stood between Hai yulang, and Hermes keraunios,sizing up both fighters with his gleaming eyes,while the higher floors were filled to the brim with spectators, including below, behind the pillars, people waited in anticipation,as Darian,and company watched from above,because of the immense amount of students those unable to find a place in the hallway,or corridor, used mystic spells,allowing them to watch from a distance, an example of this were the creation of invisible mystic eyes observing the battle ground.
Siegfried was annoyed,as he leaned on one of the pillars on the higher floors his back turned ,observing the scene below with side glances,as he thought to himself, "ever since I stepped my foot in that dorm room and got assigned with these two fools,as roommates,its been giving me the feel of being an older brother, having to deal with two bickering twins,they should be old enough to shaperon themselves",he said internally with an indignent tone,clenching his fist upward while veins popped out from his head,a faint memory popping out from his inner subconscious,of a taller figure puffing up his hair, reminding him of his own older brother,causing him to calm down and breath out,"these two bring me nothing but trouble".
Aster looked on and began listing the laws ," no lethal hits,fight may not last longer than 20minutes,if both are still standing past the required time its a draw,only one dual per pair may be issued per year,No attacks leaving lasting damage will be permitted,or injuring of sexual reproductive organs,no attacking or threatening of those outside the battle ,and no interference of an Outside force,Fight ends with incapacitation and or surrender,anything breaking these stipulations will be punished according to severity and the law,punishments ranging from mutilation,severe laceration,house arrest,revoking of titles and death",as the crowd heard these words they audibly gasped some covering their mouths.
"How stupid are they!","the risks are too much"," too many rules!","Do they not account for accidents" were the reactions of the crowd,Aster sighed delivering his final words of concern ," This is the final, and only time I'm going to ask this,do you agree to these stipulations, if so begin with the necessary greetings",the two boys smiled looking each other in the eyes as they shook each others hands," I hope you can prove yourself worthy of my skill", said yulang,"I hope you prove yourself worthy of my challenge" Hermes replied,Aster tapped his feet casually on the ground two magical circles forming from the opposite ends of the arena, the ground shook as emerging from them were,two large statues that resembled perfectly crafted figurines,spawned from these circles representing each individual fighter, the statues were in their likeness and captured a fighting stance.
Kirsh was hyped ," if this works out ,I'll challenge one of those boys and regain my honor",this sentiment caused him to lean on the railings and shout out,"Since the two of you have decided to give Us a public fight dont make it boring you hear!!!","YEAH!!!!!",the crowd Roared in response,as the two fighters looked simultaneouslyat the crowds reaction staring back at each other,Hermes spoke first,"let's not keep them waiting","couldn't of said it better myself,yulang replied.
Yulang back flipped multiple times jumping on the knees and chest of his statue getting ontop of it's head specifically the crown,Similarly Hermes backflipped once but it was so high that he was only 20 or so metres away from touching the sealing before gracefully spinning and descending like lightning on the crown of his statues head,his graceful flexibility was akin to Ice skating or ballet making him appear to be phenomenonal artistic painting,The crowd gasped,Aster glanced at both raising his hand then doing a quick chop motion and vanishing from the arena
" Beginn!!"
Hai yulang wore black shoes ,baggy black pants, and yellowish gold hanfu shirt with elaborate flower patterns,the clothes were comfortable for a casual martial battle,while Hermes style relied on speed,and light weight he wore a white chest plate,Tassets,greaves,sabatons and gauntlets with a linen skirt,Compared to a true battle ready armament it was relatively light weight,the difference in style was mostly due to different cultures in different areas of the country,evolving separately before they were consolidated,the hai family were a good example of this their style took after the Elves.
The two boys leaped from each statue,with incredible speed,before meeting each other in the center,and exchangeing blows,Hermes recieving multiple kicks as yulang seemed to just stay suspended mid air ,covering his face with his arm in an x shape,when yulang descended from the state of suspended animation,a split opening emerged,Hermes responded by punching him in the gut and and a round house kick to the ribs,yulang caught the kick reducing the full force of the attack backflipping thrice to gain some space.
Yulang opened his legs posing as he summoned a floating pool of water causing it to fall and wet the ground,as he began moving his body in a perculiar manner as if he was flowing with the waters or alighning himself with the universe quite an unpredictable technique.Darian smiled," the Hai bloodline are known far and wide for their three martial arts, the explosion art, which multiplies the power of any physical attack,the pounding wave art,which is the concentration of power leading to extreme precision and lethality,and lastly from what we know is ...."," Crushing mountain art which is all about placing weight into ones attack",Galahad chimed in completing Darians sentence.
As the two seperated from each others exchanges ,Yulang stood still closing his eyes,and focusing on his other senses,as electrical sparks flew out and charged forth from Hermes as he bolted around ,Yulang n very complex manners but not getting close,Yulang smirked, "our martial arts are very different while yours were made from observing monsters,Ours were made to destroy them".
What Yulang reffered to was simple,during the norn wars the elder of the keraunios family fought against a beast tribe creature with immense fur in which it stored static electricity, the fight lasted for about a week,between that period the principals used by said creature was incorporated and enhanced creating a new style of battle.
"Static thunder art"
Hermes moved in a zigzag pattern with extreme speed causing initial shockwaves,that was then reabsorbed into his body,causing his speed to increase each time, as his body was inveloped with a golden yellow aura of electric power,creating after images as he moved yulang stood calmly at the centre Hermes,began the attack speed a few metres infront of his opponents face annitiating a barrage of jabs that continued to get faster,in yulangs mind split secobds from each attack connecting he thought to himself, "I never thought I could win in a prolonged battle of speed".
The crowd in their heads,could not stop but think his done for,but that was not the case,Yulangs mind shouted out from deep subconscious abyss,"Absolute counter stance", yulang slipped the back of his hand slightly pushing the wrists of Hermes, every jab Hermes sent his way was redirected,as yulang jumped release a barrage of powerful kicks,that were easily dodged by Hermes,who attempted a direct kick to the gut,yulang sucked in his gut preventing the kick from reaching while jumping backwards lifting himself off the ground ,Hermes smiled ,as he sped to the left side of yulang,delivering another kick to the ribs,before it could hit ,yulang breathed out water ,creating an outershell of water surrounding the area ,the force sent him flying.
At the last moment backflipping to his feat opening his legs to a clawed stance," Explosive art,Propulsion",just before Hermes could react he was stumped, his arms felt like they had no feeling in them,"I see,each of those quick counters to my attempts, targeted the weak points of my arms, by closing in and administering slight touches my arms numbed ",a few seconds later it was too late using the explosive fist ,yulang created a propolsive force beneath his feet, making sure he angled it perfectly just then he closed the distance,used his left hand to move Hermes arms as his right arm delivereved five palm strikes using the pounding wave art causing dents on the armor, but before he could make a sixth,spitting out blood,keraunios bent his back with unexpected speed,giving a backflip kick to yulangs chin, sending him flying.
The crowd gasped the force of the kick sent shockwaves,yulangs eyes were blurry so was Hermes eyes ,Galahad expression was serious," who do you ,think is winning, I would call it about even",Darian was in deep thought," the crushing wave fist,concentrates mana within single points,and grafts the force of a wave craqging down,the size of the wave imagined based on mana capacity the more lethal,,Hermes must be feeling the damage,its not out of the question for him to have broken bones",Benjamin chimed in," The keraunios familys technique allows them to store the force, generated by their speed, transforming that into stamina, or stacking that ontop of their physical strength ,and mana pool,but this isnt all they train their bodies to handle the collective energies, and increase their speed by grafting on the speed of lightning,but even that isn't enough,their senses are trained to be the best to utilize all those traits,a prolonged battle will always lead to their victory",Darian smiled," Their are no always,and if there are then theres a first time for everything".
Hermes regained control of his limbs clenching his fist while,yulang returned to stance,both analyzed their opponent,while the crowd believed the climax was fast approaching," So his regained control of his limbs, probably by sending electric signals to his nerves",yulang thought in silence," His focusing most of his power into his senses,in a small 360 range around him, anything breaching that is sensed and his body reacts precisely on its own",Hermes thought,"but I'm not done!",both fighters minds crescendoed.
" I'll prove my art is better than yours!!".
Magical circles appeared all across the arena everywhere that,Hermes previously ran on as he ran around the area every circle touched gave him an increase in speed,siegfrieds heart beat hastened with excitement,Hermes began producing magical circles in the air ,yulang closing his eyes,as Hermes bounced from one place to another creating afterimages,he finally surpassed lighting speed,just then yulang created quick jabs, directing them upward,but not to attack Hermes directly,then giant roots and vines spawned from the ground, attacking Hermes from all sides,destroying the circles beneath,forcing Hermes to land, as he climed up the hillish set of roots ,these roots bloomed releasing toxins while,draining mana from the surroundings,he thought to himself that the water yulang had dropped before, for seemingly no reason was preparation.
This was yulangs final trump card as he smiled,"A law of martial arts ,I follow is the surroundings should always be in your favour",Hermes quickly reached the top,escaping the roots attempts to capture him,giving one final jump metres from each his opponent,yulang propelled himself, spinning, and focusing majority of his power into his fist,Hermes meanwhile corked back his foot,and arm releasing them simultaneously,both combatants hearts, and minds connected.
" I wont lose!!!".
"This looks dangerous ",Aster commented from the sidelines getting ready to move in at any moment.